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- COMPUTER PROGRAM LINELOSS
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- The program LINELOSS is a versatile program capable of doing
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- a variety of calculations related to power, VSWR, and
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- transmission line losses. The program, and the following
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- explanatory and tutorial information, is excerpted from The
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- Meteor Burst Communications Handbook, by Jacob Z. Schanker. This
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- handbook was prepared under U.S. Air Force Funding. It is
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- expected that it will be available through the N.T.I.S. late in
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- 1988.
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- TRANSMISSION LINES
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- Losses in coaxial transmission lines can have a significant
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- effect on system performance. The losses negatively affect system
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- performance in several ways. Therefore, reducing coax loss
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- provides multiple benefits. In fact, reducing coax loss is one of
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- the easiest, and least expensive, ways to improve communications
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- system performance. These are the factors involved:
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- 1) Loss in the transmission line between transmitter and
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- the antenna reduce the power delivered to the antenna,
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- thus reducing the effective radiated power.
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- 2) Loss in the transmission line between receiving antenna
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- and receiver increase the effective noise figure of the
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- receiver, reducing receiver sensitivity.
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- 3) Any standing waves on the transmission line will
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- increase the losses on the line. That is, the actual
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- transmission line loss will be higher than the rated line
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- loss. This point is of particular significance since it
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- further aggravates the negative effects of the first two
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- factors.
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- It's easy to understand how line loss reduces the power
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- delivered at the end of a transmission line, but the effect of
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- standing waves in increasing the loss requires some explanation.
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- Whenever the load at the end of a transmission line is not
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- perfectly matched to the line, that is when ZL is not purely
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- resistive and equal in magnitude to the characteristic impedance
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- of the line Zo, standing waves will exist. The impedance
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- inequality at the load will cause power to be reflected back down
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- the transmission line towards the source. This reflected wave
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- undergoes the same amount of attenuation (in dB.) that the
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- forward wave experienced intitially in travelling towards the
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- load. This attenuation increases the overall, actual,
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- attenuation. The actual attenuation is always greater than the
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- rated line attenuation, except when a line is perfectly
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- "flat" (no standing waves).
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- The load in a communications system is either the antenna,
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- or the receiver input. In either case, it is unlikely to be
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- perfectly matched to the line, which will normally be coaxial
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- cable with 50 ohm nominal characteristic impedance. A multi-
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- element Yagi beam antenna carefully tuned to the frequency of
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- operation may have a relatively low VSWR, typically less than
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- 1.5, and possible as low as 1.1. On the other hand, a wideband
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- log-periodic beam antenna may have a VSWR above 2.0. The input
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- impedance of a typical receiver is only nominally 50 ohms. The
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- actual impedance will vary quite a bit from the nominal, and the
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- VSWR is often between 1.5 and 2.0.
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- The rated attenuation for coaxial cable is normally
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- expressed in terms of dB. per 100 feet or dB. per 100 meters. The
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- attenuation is a function of frequency of operation, so the
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- rating must specify the frequency at which the attenuation is
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- given. Manufacturer's literature, handbooks, or MIL specs are
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- possible sources of this information. Often the rated attenuation
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- will be given at 10 MHz. and at 100 MHz. Unfortunately, important
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- communications frequencies lie between these two frequencies, and
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- attenuation ratings are unlikely to be specified at the specific
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- frequencies of operation. Since the attenuation of coaxial cable
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- varies approximately as the square-root of the frequency ratio,
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- it is possible to make a useful estimate of rated attenuation at
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- specific frequencies from the rated attenuation at other
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- frequencies.
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- Module 7 of the MBC Programs, LINELOSS, may be used to
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- calculate the rated line loss at a particular frequency, given
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- rated line loss at some other frequency. Once the rated line loss
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- is known, the actual line loss can be calculated for whatever
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- value of VSWR exists on the line. The program also expresses true
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- line loss as an operating efficiency figure. Additional
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- calculations provided in LINELOSS are conversion between forward
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- and reflected power and VSWR.
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- It's useful to plug some numbers into LINELOSS and play
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- around a bit. The importance of low transmission line loss should
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- soon be apparent. Low VSWR is also helpful, but often is not as
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- easily controllable. As an example of the considerations
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- discussed above, and of the use of the program, consider the
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- following:
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- A meteor burst system operates at 40 MHz. The remote site
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- operates in half-duplex with the meteor burst terminal
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- (transmitter/receiver) connected to a 5 element Yagi antenna
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- through 150 feet of RG8A/U type coaxial cable. The VSWR of the
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- antenna is 1.30. Use Module 7 to find the true loss in the line,
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- the line operating efficiency, and the apparent VSWR at the
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- terminal end of the line.
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- The rated attenuation of RG8A/U, from manufacturer's data,
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- is 0.56 dB. per 100 feet at 10 MHz. From the Main Menu, choose
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- selection 2, "FIND RATED LINE LOSS AT OPERATING FREQUENCY FROM
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- RATED VALUE AT ANOTHER FREQUENCY." The rated line loss, 0.56 dB.
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- is entered first. The actual line length, 150 (feet) is then
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- entered in response to the prompt. Next, the frequency at which
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- the rating was given, 10 (MHz.) is entered, followed by the
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- actual operating frequency of 40 (MHz.). The program then
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- calculates the rated attenuation for 150 feet at 40 MHz. using
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- the approximation that attenuation is proportional to the square
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- root of the actual frequency divided by the rating frequency.
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- This is accurate enough for most purposes. Note that the value
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- obtained from the program is 1.7 dB. Choose selection 2 to return
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- to the Main Menu, we then choose selection 4 "CALCULATIONS, USING
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- CONDITIONS AT ANTENNA END", since we know the VSWR at the antenna
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- end. The rated line loss for the length of line being used, which
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- we just found to be 1.7 dB. is entered first. The program then
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- asks us to enter any additional losses in the transmission path.
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- These could be due to filters, diplexers, or other accessories
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- which exhibit some insertion loss. In this case, we assume there
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- is no additional loss and so enter 0. Finally, we enter the known
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- VSWR at the antenna, 1.3, in response to the prompt.
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- The program then calculates that the VSWR at the transmitter
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- end is 1.19. This points up the fact that for a lossy
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- transmission line, the VSWR at the transmitter (source) end will
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- always be less than the VSWR at the antenna (load) end. This is a
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- result of: (1) the forward power delivered to the antenna is
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- reduced by the line attenuation, and, (2) the resulting reflected
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- power caused by the antenna mismatch is further attenuated on its
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- return trip to the transmitter end. Since VSWR is proportional to
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- the ratio of reflected power/forward power, the transmitter end
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- sees a lower reflected power and a higher forward power than the
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- antenna end, hence a lower VSWR.
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- Then program the calculates that the true overall loss in
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- the line (accounting for the effect of VSWR on the rated line
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- loss) is 1.74 dB., and that the overall transmission line
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- operating efficiency is 67.0%. Note that, in this example, the
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- VSWR on the line contributed negligible (.04 dB.) additional
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- loss. Since the VSWR was relatively low (1.3) this is not too
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- surprising. But what if the antenna VSWR was 2.5? This is a value
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- which might be seen with a log-periodic type antenna, or with a
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- field expedient antenna. It is suggested that the reader go
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- through the calculations for this case. The result is that the
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- true line loss is 2.20 dB., an increase of 0.5 dB. over the rated
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- line loss which would be exhibited for unity VSWR.
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- As another example, consider that in the previous example we
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- did not know the VSWR of the antenna. However, using a BIRD
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- wattmeter or similar instrument, the forward power at the
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- transmitter end was measured as 300 watts, and the reflected
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- power as 20 watts. This may seem pretty good, but it isn't.
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- Choose selection 1 "CONVERT BETWEEN VSWR AND REFLECTED POWER",
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- from the Main Menu. Entering our values, we find that the VSWR is
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- 1.70. Returning to the Main Menu and choosing selection 3
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- "CALCULATIONS, USING CONDITIONS AT TRANSMITTER END", the program
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- calculates that the true VSWR at the antenna end is 2.24, and
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- that the true overall loss is 2.09 dB. This is 0.39 dB greater
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- loss than the rated line loss of 1.7 dB. The calculated operating
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- efficiency is 61.8%. This means that the actual power delivered
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- to the antenna to be radiated is 0.618 X (Forward Power -
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- Reflected Power) or 0.618 X (300 - 20) = 173 watts.
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- Additional reference:
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- "Program Finds True Transmission Line Loss" EDN, February 18, 1981
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